I have been baking these cookies close to two decades now. I have tweaked the recipe over the years to make them exactly the way I like them. You can adapt them for any holiday or season by changing the M&M's to colors inspired by the season. At Christmas time you can also switch out the vanilla extract for a couple teaspoons of peppermint extract to make chocolate mint cookies.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa powder.
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 whole egg, and 1 egg yoke separated
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups M&M's of your choice.
Directions:
1. Cream together the butter and sugar.
2. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips and M&M's. I do this part by hand so the candy doesn't break.
6. I use a 2 tbls size cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. They can be close together because they are going to be going into the freezer for a little bit before baking.
7. Gently press a couple extra M&M's into the top of each dough ball.
8. Put in the freezer for 20-30 minutes until firm. At this time preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
9. Bake for 15 minutes. Since they are brown you can't tell when they are done by looking at them so I have found 15 minutes to be just right.
10. Let cool on a wire rack.